(REHOBOTH BEACH, Del.) - With Christmas less than one week away, folks at the Rehoboth Beach Carrier Annex are feeling the heat.
"Sunday and Monday were our biggest push on packages," said Carol Friend, Customer Service Supervisor. "I think we were close to 9,000 [packages] out of this facility."
According to Friend, Thursday was the last day to send out priority mail in order to arrive by Christmas; however, there is hope for all those last minute shoppers... just expect to pay more.
"Our priority express mail is December 22nd, so that would be Saturday. It is our premium service, and for that, there is an extra fee," explained Friend.
As for the exact cost, Friend says that all depends on the weight and size of the package, plus where it's going.
"This week alone is our busiest week," said Friend. "We're going to have over 200 million packages delivered just this week, and that's not the whole entire season, which starts Thanksgiving to New Years. That's going to be 900 billion between packages and mail that the postal service is actually going to move in just that short amount of time."
Given the expected high volume of customers this week at local retail offices, Friend suggests visiting before lunch hours and between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., in order to avoid long lines.
"If they're going to have to bring something into the retail, try to have it ready," said Friend. "That's one of the biggest things to get through the line - have it packaged up, have your label ready. If you want insurance on it or things like that, have those forms filled out. Also, make sure that you're legible in your writing. If you don't know the zip code, then don't put a zip code. It's better to have no zip code than have a bad zip code on a piece of mail."
If you have a package you'll need to mail out priority express, you can check its shipping costs by using the "click and ship" tool at https://www.usps.com/.